India, March 17 -- Smart cards, which comprised a popular mode of ticketing for suburban railway commuters wanting to jump long queues, are seeing a drop in usage, according to data from Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). Although commuters continue to purchase tickets through automatic ticket vending machines (ATVMs), where smart cards are used, they prefer to pay via UPI by scanning the QR code, said railway officials. In fact, most of buyers of new smart cards are retired railway officials who work as 'sahayaks' or facilitators, helping commuters purchase tickets through ATVMs, they added.

At present, ATVMs account for roughly 20-25% of the total ticket sales on CR and WR. Ticket sales through the UTS mobile app account ...